Year: 1996
Country: United States
Language: English, Spanish
Number: 913
Director: John Sayles
Starring: Chris Cooper, Elizabeth Peña, Kris Kristofferson, Matthew McConaughey
Oscar nomination: Best Original Screenplay
If there's a genre named "Neo-Westerns". John Sayles' Lone Star is definitely among the classics that one should not miss. It's set in Rio County, Texas, where we follow Sheriff Sam Deeds (Chris Cooper) who thanks to two treasure hunters found a human skull and a sheriff batch that most likely belonged to the former sheriff Charlie Wade (Kris Kristofferson). A violent and racist sheriff who just disappeared decades ago. Sam's father, the late beloved Sheriff Buddy Deeds (Matthew McConaughey) was Wade's deputy who got fired because of his opposition towards Wade's intolerance towards Mexicans and black people. An intolerance that are still present unfortunately. This makes Sam's father a suspect. And Sam has to dig deep into his family secrets.
Lone Star is an extraordinary western film that dives deep into racial differences that are still very strong, and where Mexican immigration only becomes a bigger problem. But there's also the black people too. And we not only follow the sheriff, we also follow other people of different backgrounds dealing with these problems, like Pirar Cruz (Elizabeth Pena), Sam's Mexican high school girlfriend, who both were not allowed to be together. And we also follow the African-american Colonel Delmore Payne (Joe Morton) who's father, Otis (Ron Canada) felt the terror of sheriff Wade. There's even a town hall meeting that discuss how they shall teach history.
This is a great mystery film, with really dark secrets, family secrets that can destroy Sam's father's reputation as a legend. There's a pretty strong cast that are just perfect. Chris Cooper, Elizabeth Pena, Joe Morton, Ron Canada, Miriam Colon, Matthew McConaughey and specially Kris Kristofferson's performance was clearly the best. He's one of those characters you wanna see more of. Surely one of the toughest bad guys cinema have ever seen, with his Texan accent and his ice cold attitude. Overall, Lone Star is an excellent executed mystery film, with an issue that are still relevant today, and it also contains a certain David Lynch chill as well. Thumbs up.
Grade: A+
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